Christmas update

I didn't get a chance to post pics from our Christmas this year. Somehow, I didn't take any pictures myself, but my mom did send me some. Unfortunately, I don't think anybody got any pictures on the Davis (Ocedek) side. Shoot! Well, here are a few from the Oberholtzer Christmas:


Annual Oberholtzer family photo - we're growing! As we get older, it gets more difficult for all of us to get together. I'm so happy that everybody coming home to celebrate Christmas Eve together has remained a family tradition.




Grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa O




Grandkids with spouses (or soon-to-be!)


We also opened gifts with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law at my parents' house

Who's taking who's picture???



Even JackHannah got gifts!



All this gift opening wore the dogs out, too!

Christmas hangover

It's hard to believe that Christmas is already over. Isn't it funny how we spend so much time preparing for the big day for it to be over in a matter of days (depending on how many holiday parties you may have). We had a very nice time visiting both sides of our family. Although things were a little bit crazy making time to see everybody, it was definitely worth it. I love our family traditions - celebrating Christmas Eve with my extended family (parents, brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins) and Christmas day with Jason's family (again, the whole crew!). Best of all, we are blessed to have 3 "full sets" of grandparents to between us, which makes being together that much more special.


JackHannah is quite an active little baby. I have noticed more and more kicks in the last few weeks. Courtney (SIL) even got to feel it! Hopefully our parents will catch one soon. It's such an amazing feeling! I tested our baby's music taste last night by playing the Forrest Gump soundtrack through headphones on my belly (I thought it was a good combination of random songs). I think Elvis is the favorite - lots of dancing! Jason wants to try out Nirvana next, but I'm leaning more toward something classical. It's fun experimenting, nonetheless!


I have officially passed into the double digits - as of today, we have 94 days till our due date. I can't believe it! Time really is flying by. We decided on our baby furniture last week. I absolutely love it! Unfortunately, we don't have room at the moment to bring it home, so it's on lay away until we have the bedroom cleared out. We're planning on doing that next weekend so that I'll also have room to put the gifts from our baby showers, coming up in a couple of weeks.


Finally, this isn't baby related, but I thought it was cute - We had some problems with our cable modem last week, so Jason crawled under the desk to make sure it wasn't our receiver. JJ saw that as a perfect opportunity to be cradled up next to Jason. What a good helper!



We wish you many blessings in the New Year!



Almost 27 weeks

The 3-hour test

I had my 3-hour glucose test yesterday morning. After fasting all night, they let you drink their super sugary sweet version of orange pop. I know this is kind of strange, but I kind of liked it. Not that I'd drink it any other time, but from the horror stories I'd heard, I was expecting much worse. JackHannah liked all that sugar, too. He/She was very active all morning long!

After that, I got poked every hour for 3 hours. Pretty uneventful. I made good use of the time, though, by taking my work laptop and logging in from the waiting room (thank goodness for wireless!). I even explored the hospital a little bit. I think it will be a nice place to deliver our baby.

Oh yes, the results?? I got the good news today. I passed the test with flying colors! I've read that 15-20% of the 1-hour tests show false positives, so I must have been in that group. Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. Christmas cookies, here I come!

Christmas countdown

Where has this month gone!?! As is somehow typical of December, Christmas seems to be knocking at the door. Thankfully this year, we finished most of our Christmas shopping relatively early. Of course, we have those few last minute gifts to pick up, but overall I think we're sitting pretty good.

The fresh blanket of snow from our little snow storm last night reminds me how this is a season to start over, new beginnings, second chances. Pastor Steve preached about that this morning - All I Want for Christmas is a Second Chance. That's the awesome thing about God's love - He loves us so much that he sent his son down to earth to be born and live among us, ultimately taking our sin and undeservingly dying on the cross for us. We are forgiven through Him and given a second chance (and third, and fourth....) All we have to do is acknowledge that we are sinners. We could never pay the price for that, but we don't have to b/c He already did on the cross. We just have to seek his forgiveness and accept the gift of his son as our Lord and Savior, and our sins are washed clean. What better gift could there be?!?

Of course, we have this extra special gift on the way this year. JackHannah has been so active. We couldn't help but watch my belly moving all over the place during church today (we were listening to the sermon, too, though, we swear!). Everything has been progressing relatively well. Unfortunately, I learned this week that I did not pass my 1-hour gestational diabetes test. So, I get to go back to the hospital on Wednesday for the 3-hour test. I'm very thankful for such tests, as they ensure that I have a healthy pregnancy. However, I would certainly also appreciate your prayers that the 3-hour test turns out just fine.

Since it seems that I've only had time to post every couple of weeks, I will now wish you a blessed Christmas and and all of our love in the new year!

Merry Christmas from the Davis Family!

25 weeks

Our first "real" tree

I'm so excited that it's Christmas time! Although I love fall, there's just something about Christmas that gets me. The lights, songs, nativities, and of course the trees...

This year, Jason and I decided that we wanted to experience the way we did when we were kids and get ourselves a real Christmas tree. Rather than going to a tree lot, we thought it would be best to go to an actual tree farm for a fresh one. Well, little did we know just how fresh we were going to get it. When we ventured out to the tree farm, they informed us that they were all out of pre-cut trees as they handed us a saw and pointed to the forest behind the barn. So, we hopped in the Aztek and headed out in search of the perfect tree.

Being frugal (cheap!), we opted not to get a blue spruce or Douglas fur, but rather a nice Scotch pine. After a driving a few laps around, we finally spotted THE tree - not too tall, nice and full - perfect! So, for the first time ever, Jason got down on the ground and cut down our first real tree (not an easy thing to do, remember I said it was full, very full!).

After loading it into the back of the Aztek (mostly anyway), we finally got it up to the bander to compact it for the ride home. Maybe we should have been a little wary when the operator commented on the "messy" one, or when it would barely fit through their banding machine. Hmmm..... We thought full was good.

Fortunately, it did fit into the back of the Aztek, and after unloading and stomping it on the ground multiple times, we felt we had knocked enough of the dead needles off to bring it inside. After 2 hours, lots of sticky sap, and hundreds of dead needles later, the tree was finally standing on its own. How come we don't remember any of this growing up?!?

Now that we have it in the house, standing and decorated, I must admit that we really do like it. Yes, it's a little full (ok, takes up 1/3 of our living room), but it really is nice to smell the fresh pine. I think I have even mastered the art of vacuuming the needles up around the tree without touching it (or else twice as many more needles fall off!). We're not sure that we're going to go the real route again next year (as we were trying to get it to stand, we swore we were going to buy a pre-lit tree next year), but maybe it's like child birth amnesia - seeing the beautiful tree, you only remember the joy it brought, forgetting the misery it took to get there.

My favorite new ornament, a gift from my parents. They're not excited about a grandbaby, are they??

On a separate note - 23 weeks. Definitely growing! The baby is moving so much now! Sometimes, I just sit and watch my belly move. It's incredible. Sometimes Jason acts like I'm nuts, but I know he's really getting into it, too!

My body is slipping away

Over the past few weeks, I've really noticed my "baby bump" starting to stick out. However, tonight was the first time that I realized that I no longer have a waist. Where there was once a little bit of a defined middle is now just a round bump. No more bending at the belly button (even that has started to stretch a bit!). No wonder it's been a bit more challenging trying up my tennis shoes. Thank goodness for slip-ons!

In other exciting news, Jason has now felt the baby kick! Evenings seem to be an active time for the baby (hope that's not a sign of things to come), so he's been able to feel little kicks on a couple of different occassions now. He seems to be pretty excited about it. I've even noticed that he's feeling my belly more often now :-) So much fun!

Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe I'll get to that in a few days. I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

30 and other things

Blessings, blessings, blessings... This time of year makes me reflect on how blessed I am, more so this year than ever before. I have so many things to be thankful for - a wonderful husband, loving family and friends, good health, birthdays (even 30 of them!), and of course this little person growing inside of me! God is good (all the time!).

Jason recently surprised me and took me to St. Louis for my birthday and one last get-away before baby comes. Ordinarily, I would not have picked St. Louis as a weekend escape, but we had a great time! Unfortunately, our vacation literally got off to a bumpy start when we landed in Detroit for our connection minus flaps (a.k.a. brakes!). We got quite a greeting on the runway with all of the fire trucks awaiting our arrival. Thankfully, we were in a small plane and the pilot did a fantastic job of landing us safely.


Turns out, St. Louis is a pretty interesting city with all kind of FREE stuff to do (West Michigan is rubbing off on me - I love to find a deal!). We visited Forest Park (home of the 1904 World's Fair), Missouri History Museum, St. Louis Zoo, the arch, Soldiers' Memorial, endless parks, Union Station, City Museum... We were exhausted by the end of every day. It really was a very nice getaway. I'm so thankful for a man who plans such special surprises for me and treats me so well!


Some pics of us in St. Louis - The Arch, Jason coming down a slide at the City Museum, and us at Jefferson National Park

I am now officially 21 weeks. I can hardly believe it. The time is just flying by! Last week my doctor informed me that the ultrasound report came back, and everything looks very good - right on track. I can feel the baby more and more everyday. We definitely have a little kicker. Jason hasn't been able to feel it yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.

My mom and I went to Babies R Us a few weeks ago to register for baby items, and there's been talk of a baby shower coming this winter. All of these things just make me realize that we're going to be PARENTS very soon. That realization is terrifying yet thrilling all at the same time. The farther along I get, the more anxious I become about meeting this little person. Boy or a girl?? Who's eyes, nose, mouth, etc. will he/she have?? I can't wait to see this little miracle that God is knitting together right now!!




21 weeks - yes, going back on my belly shot vow...


I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and count all you have to be thankful for!